Maloney (D): Trump ‘Deserves to Be Impeached’ But Process Could Be Counterproductive

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D., N.Y.) on Friday night said President Donald Trump "deserves to be impeached" in response to Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) call for the House to initiate impeachment proceedings.

Maloney appeared on MSNBC's All In to discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, which was released on Thursday morning. Joy Reid, who was filling in for MSNBC host Chris Hayes, pressed Maloney on his Constitutional "duty" as a congressman to hold Trump accountable. Earlier in the segment, Maloney listed off multiple ways Trump can be held accountable, adding the "best way" to hold him accountable is beating him in the 2020 election.

"Impeachment is the one that the Constitution of the United States assigned to you with all due respect. Elections are in the hands of the American people and the voters. Prosecution is in the hands of prosecutors," Reid said. "The Constitution only anticipated one way for you to discharge your duty to the Constitution and to uphold it and to hold the president accountable. You only have one path to do that and that's impeachment."

While Maloney says he doesn't believe the House should necessarily go down the impeachment route because he believes it would be "counterproductive," he said Trump "deserves to be impeached" several times.

"Does he deserve to get impeached? Yeah he probably deserves to get impeached. No argument from me. I'm appalled by what's in this report," Maloney said. "We can expect a lot more from our president, but if you want me to chase my tail around for the next two years and miss the big picture, which is to beat him, which is to replace him, which is to get things done and get a chance to do something good for this country."

Reid appeared annoyed by his response and followed up to ask whether Maloney believes Trump has committed impeachable offenses, prompting him to say he believes Trump deserves to be impeached.

"I'm elected to use my brain and to be smart about this, to represent my district, to hold the president accountable, I think that's the right thing to do and to do that in a way that is effective for goodness sake and that gets this country going in a new direction," Maloney said.

Mueller's report stated no one from the Trump campaign conspired to collude with Russia. While Mueller says there was no collusion, he was unable to rule on whether there was obstruction of justice. He outlined ten instances of Trump attempting to interfere into the investigation, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Congress is now left with the decision to whether move forward with impeachment. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) cautioned against impeachment while freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said it's Congress's obligation to conduct an impeachment inquiry.

Ocasio-Cortez announced she would sign on to Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (D., Mich.) impeachment resolution.

"Mueller’s report is clear in pointing to Congress’ responsibility in investigating obstruction of justice by the President. It is our job as outlined in Article 1, Sec 2, Clause 5 of the US Constitution," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "As such, I’ll be signing onto @RashidaTlaib’s impeachment resolution."

Warren also announced on Twitter she believed the "severity of this misconduct" highlighted in the Mueller report demanded both parties to come together and fulfill their "Constitutional duty."

Mueller put the next step in the hands of Congress: "Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice." The correct process for exercising that authority is impeachment.

The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.

Cameron CawthorneEmail Cameron | Full Bio | RSSCameron Cawthorne is a Media Analyst for the Washington Free Beacon. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2013. Prior to joining Free Beacon, Cameron was a Legislative Assistant in the Virginia General Assembly and a War Room Analyst at America Rising.